tssk
New Member
Posts: 45
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Post by tssk on Feb 19, 2013 11:39:33 GMT 10
What do you think the first order of business will be?
I think the following will happen.
-The mining tax will be scrapped. This will allow the mining companies to return to reporting massive profits. Good for shareholders and good for the Libs who will point to the massive turnaround on paper as them magically helping business.
-'Scrapping' the NBN. By scrapping I mean reshaping. It will be renamed so they can claim it as scrapped. The rollout areas might be changed to help small business. And it might be changed to help the big players in content.
-Reforming welfare. Check out what the Tories are doing in the UK for a preview of what awaits the unemployed and disabled.
-Reform of the electoral act. Moving away from compulsory voting as the young and the transient tend not to vote Liberal.
-Reintroduction of Workchoices.
-Creation of the Northern Special Economic Zone.
Any others I've missed?
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Post by jack on Feb 19, 2013 18:44:04 GMT 10
First order of business?
Meteor Tax.
It's primary advocate apparently has the ear of the PM-in-Waiting.
Only it will be rebadged as a Levy. There'll be no further need to call it a Tax, which was wholly a device for a specious equation between it and the carbon pricing mechanism.
If repealing the latter turns out to be impracticable, as well it may, it will be rejigged and rebadged as a...
Carbon Pricing Mechanism.
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tssk
New Member
Posts: 45
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Post by tssk on Feb 20, 2013 6:49:10 GMT 10
Meteor tax. Love it. Given how often Abbott went on about the sky falling in if the Carbon tax was passed.
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zoot
Junior Member
Posts: 58
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Post by zoot on Feb 25, 2013 21:06:20 GMT 10
I believe the absolute top priority should be the restoration of Whyalla. It's criminal that a proud, productive town like that should have been wiped off the map by the outrageous carbon tax. I expect Prime Minister Abbott to visit the empty paddock where Whyalla once stood so he can say, "See, I told you so", before announcing his plans for a new and better Whyalla.
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Post by angra on Feb 26, 2013 6:18:42 GMT 10
What do you reckon that Labor has injected enough poison pills into major projects like the NBN, the carbon tax, NDIS etc. to make it almost impossible for the Coalition to roll them back should they win the election?
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Post by Matthew Of Canberra on Feb 26, 2013 7:39:50 GMT 10
Re: NBN roll-back
I doubt it. That would actually be pretty irresponsible, because it would probably hamstring the ALP as well. There are undoubtedly contracts and stuff, but if they were going to roll it back, the libs would just wait for those to end.
The only thing that will really prevent its rollout is that it appears to actually be a popular policy.
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Post by Matthew Of Canberra on Feb 26, 2013 7:58:48 GMT 10
I agree
Whyalla Must Be Rebuilt!
I gotta find me a protest to photo-bomb
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Post by Matthew Of Canberra on Feb 26, 2013 8:55:18 GMT 10
"What do you think the first order of business will be?"
Assuming they win in september (and I am assuming that), then remember that they have about 9 months before having to implement any budget measures.
But they have executive powers - I wonder how quickly they'll move to end any projects that are in train.
But basically, I think they're going to do exactly what howard did. Primarily because it succeeded politically. So as soon as they get a budget they'll start sacking public servants - my estimate is about 30,000 - partly based on what abbott's actually said, and partly based on that's just what howard did.
Research will get hammered. Howard (apparently) came very close to slashing the CRC program - I wonder if they'll survive this time. Anyone working at CSIRO should (IMHO) start thinking about their exit strategy. Funding for any international projects will be under the microscope. Universities will probably (again) find their funding frozen - if it's in a year when salaries are being renegotiated, then it'll be a perfect repeat of history.
I expect that we'll see a return to "breaching" welfare recipients. I don't think we'll see an expansion of work-for-the-dole or its application to refugees, because the administrative costs won't make it financially viable.
We won't see a national takeover of hospitals.
I expect that we'll see a complete clean-out of the SES.
I'm curious to see what happens to the ABC. I'll be surprised to see it considerably harmed, but I wouldn't be surprised to see it make its exit from online opinion publishing (and I would support that - I've always said I don't think it's what a national broadcaster should be doing).
Given the 9 month gap before a budget, It's hard to know if they'll do a cambell and terminate all contract employees - they have time to pick and choose and renegotiate salaries. But you never know.
Being a first-term government, they'll screw up - just like the ALP did, and just like the libs did before them. Anyone who thinks the ALP was specially accident prone doesn't remember mid-nineties.
Being a new minister must be a harsh introduction to reality - not only do they suddenly have to walk the talk, they have to learn that government actually has to follow the law, that people aren't all paid as much as you think, ministers find themselves with myriad conflicting demands yet find themselves responsible for large bureaucratic organisations comprising hundreds and thousands of people who can't just be fired on a whim, and if you want something to do be done then you actually have to think it through first. People like to moan about canberra - but I dare anyone to try to get BHP (say) to turn on a dime and see what happens, and BHP (say) doesn't have anything like the enforceable oversight and accountability requirements of government.
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Post by angra on Feb 28, 2013 15:15:58 GMT 10
Tony Abbott has discovered the internets, and that maybe they could be used to deliver education! Except that's it's been done for at least the last 20 years Tony. And I think you might benefit from having an NBN to make that easier. Back to playing with your budgie, Tone. www.open.edu.au/And I've just discovered there are some gays living next to me (shock horror). And one of them is from Asia I'm sure! (he doesn't look Australian enough). Morrison has promised that the community and the police will be informed, and I'm developing some behavioural protocols for them which will be delivered through their window by a SWAT team via a twenty foot long pole so we don't have to actually see them. Better still let's put them all in one suburb and build a big wall around them. (sarc) Policies, schmolicies.
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Post by angra on Mar 2, 2013 16:43:05 GMT 10
The battle of the spin doctors.
Tele - "Abbott: I'll restore hope in Sydney's west" says Budgie pants, desperately trying to pre-empt Julia's visit there. He's even going to visit Rooty Hill RSL (cue the jokes).
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Post by Matthew Of Canberra on Mar 3, 2013 9:55:13 GMT 10
Ok, I've whipped up a quick transcript of the hadley/morrison interview on the 27th. Everyone's talking about it, but I can't find a transcript anywhere. It's not on Morrisson's web site, which is odd ... because the other interviews from that week are. I've not bothered with the umms and aahs. RH: Scott Morrison, the shadow immigration minister's on the line, he's called us. G'day Scott
SM: Gday Ray, how are you?
RH: Pretty good, now we revealed this story last week, about this 21 year old. I'm now gathering information, almost on an hourly basis, from people out there. It appears that the department of immigration has absolutely no idea where these people are. They handball it to the red cross who then handball it effectively to Transfield, or one of the arms of Transfield - and they're called campus living villages. My information is that this person was residing at the university, despite what the university says. He was not OFFICIALLY there, there are only 80 ... men - aged between 18 and 40 plus there. But I'm told by locals that this can double. They simply double up. That these people, who are supposed to be somewhere else, come for either a week or a month and stay with the other people, so the 80 could turn into 160 and absolutely no-one knows.
SM: I think that's the key point, as you demonstrated with Sandy Logan having to fess up to the fact that last August they said there was no-one there and there'd been people there for a year, and this is the problem. And this is why, in a few minutes down here in Melbourne, I'll be holding a press conference. And I'll be calling on the government to suspend issuing any further bridging visas except in exceptional circumstances, to people who've arrived on boats, until they've conducted a thorough review of procedures and protocols. Now, the key things there have to be - they should be letting police know, at least, and consulting ... police know where people are being let into the community. I mean, the first time the police shouldn't have to know about this is when there's an incident, particularly one as terrible as this one ...
RH: Can I interrupt you there, Scott? Because it is germane to this conversation. And I won't identify who revealed this to me, but in august of last year it was concerned police officers who contacted me because they'd had complaints about the behavior of people, who told me that people were residing in these facilities at Macquarie university. Now, based on our investigation and the reply we got on august 31, I replied to those concerned police officers: I don't know where you're getting info from boys, but the department of immigration have confirmed to me there is no-one staying at that facility. So, police anecdotally were told, but then I told them it wasn't true, but then they came back to me and said I'm sorry it IS true. Where do I go? If the department of immigration ... if I go on and say that the department of immigration are lying, I'm in all sorts of trouble, I eventually go on air and say they're lying but only when I know for sure that they are actually there. sort of me going to the facility and going around there - illegally, I suspect - and inspecting things ... this is the whole problem.
SM: Well we certainly found out last Friday that people were there, and that's not how we should find out
RH: They're also at the university of Western Sydney at Parramatta ...
SM: They are, and where else are they? We know they're in an aged care facility in Adelaide. So we're calling on the government to have an inquiry into this to find out - where ARE the ten thousand people currently? I mean, that would be a good exercise for the government to do. There should be a behavior protocol that anyone released into the community has to adhere to. There should be a complaints mechanism, for people who are concerned about things to be able to report these ... those incidents should be reported, they should be transparent. I mean, there are no checks and balances here Ray, they just dump people into the community because they can't control the borders. It's all no care and all no responsibility. And that has to stop.
RH: They won't, in any way, accede to your requests, to do this, the labor party. Many people, with all due respect to you, will see this as some sort of stunt because they simply won't do it.
SM: Well, we've had to drag the government kicking and screaming on many things in this space. We're frankly a bit sick and tired of having to do the government's job for them. But this is what a minister should be doing in this space. When something of this nature happens, he should be the one asking the questions. He should be the one calling for the reviews. Brendan O'Connor is harder to find than Captain Ehmad on this. He has completely gone to ground, and he's pushing Sandy Logan and department officials out on the end of a stick.
RH: I know what he's doing. He's ringing Chris Bowen and saying why have they done this to me? Why couldn't you still be doing this? Why couldn't I be left alone?
SM: Well, that may be the case, but it falls to him now. And he needs to be able to reassure the community before he gives out one more bridging visa, because he gives them out, that he has learned the lessons of this debacle. And whatever happens in the courts with this issue is one set of issues, but what it should be is a wake-up call to the government that their no-care no-responsibility bridging visa policy has fallen apart and they need to fix it, because there's another six-seven months to an election, and they're going to issue, what, five thousand more visas between now and then? That's ... they can't do that without fixing this up. After that there's some waffle about a version of "go west" that somebody's recorded about Gillard. All I'll add to that is ... I'm not sure Scott Morrison knows what "checks and balances" means.
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tssk
New Member
Posts: 45
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Post by tssk on Mar 4, 2013 14:07:36 GMT 10
Here's one to look forward to. www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/tony-abbotts-message-clean-up-your-acts-or-do-without-dole/story-e6freuy9-1226589493861The Coalition is finalising the small print on a tough get-to-work policy that will force all unemployed under-50s to earn the dole. Welfare benefits will also be denied to under-30s in areas where employers cannot find enough workers for unskilled jobs, such as cleaning and labouring.
Opposition employment participation spokeswoman Sussan Ley said more details would be announced closer to the September 14 election.
"We intend to suspend dole payments for people under 30 years of age in areas where unskilled work is readily available," she said yesterday.
"The Coalition has consistently maintained we believe the best pathway to work is with a job.
"Work-for-the-dole will be a key element of our policy to halt any unnecessary blowout in the numbers of long-term unemployed."A couple of questions here. If there are 10 jobseekers under 30 and 5 positions in the area does that mean all 10 will have their dole suspended? And does this mean that small businesses will be able to lower their overheads by putting off unskilled staff and replacing them with work for the dole staff? (Much like how some supermarkets in the UK have been able to provide shareholder value by replacing store stackers with unemployed people.)
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tssk
New Member
Posts: 45
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Post by tssk on Mar 5, 2013 20:22:26 GMT 10
Here's another one. www.crikey.com.au/2013/03/05/qlds-health-blueprint-a-clarion-call-for-privatising-services/"Federal Treasurer Wayne Swan has vowed to fight, claiming that the moves amount to a dismantling of Medicare. There has already been controversy over payments not made to Queensland because of a failure to meet agreed Council of Australian Governments targets. In a classic exemplar of the “blame game” over funding, the state calls this money a “cut” while Canberra decries the state for breaking its promises." Sigh. We can't have that. Expect Abbott to fix this once he's in by shadowing the Qld model in order to harmonise the system. The US has privatised health. The UK is dismantling the NHS. Medicare is next.
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tssk
New Member
Posts: 45
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Post by tssk on Mar 13, 2013 18:36:12 GMT 10
The SMH weighs in. www.smh.com.au/opinion/political-news/life-under-abbott-please-dont-panic-20130312-2fyet.htmlGah. This bit is totally spot on though. "Julia Gillard has rebounded in the latest opinion poll. There's still hope. The world may not end on September 14. That's the optimistic Labor view. Now a reality check. Labor faces demolition under Gillard or slightly less resounding defeat under a new leader. Abbott will become prime minister. He will have unfettered power, barring a Greens resurgence."
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tssk
New Member
Posts: 45
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Post by tssk on May 22, 2013 16:04:12 GMT 10
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